The Oxus treasure

The Oxus treasure is the most important surviving collection of
Achaemenid Persian metalwork. It consists of about 170 objects,
dating mainly from the fifth and fourth centuries BC. This was the
time of the Achaemenid empire, created by Cyrus the Great (559-530
BC), when Persian control stretched from Egypt and the Aegean to
Afghanistan and the Indus Valley.

The Treasure seems to have been gathered together over a long
period, perhaps in a temple. It includes vessels, a gold scabbard,
model chariots and figures, armlets, seals, finger-rings,
miscellaneous personal objects, dedicatory plaques and coins It was
found on the banks of the River Oxus, probably at the site of
Takht-i Kuwad, a ferry station on the north bank of the river.

In May 1880 Captain F.C. Burton, a British political officer in
Afghanistan, rescued a group of merchants who had been captured by
bandits while travelling between Kabul and Peshawar. They were
carrying with them this rich collection of gold and silver objects.
Burton bought from them a gold armlet, now in the Victoria and
Albert Museum.

Other pieces from the Treasure subsequently emerged in the
bazaars of Rawalpindi. Some of those now in The British Museum were
acquired by Major-General Sir Alexander Cunningham (1814-93),
Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India, and others
were obtained by Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks, who was both a
curator in the Museum and a generous benefactor. In due course
Franks bought Cunningham's share of the treasure, and eventually
the entire Oxus treasure was bequeathed by him to The British
Museum.